1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a combination electrical outlet and lock box, and more specifically to a combination electrical outlet and lock box in which an outlet cover, which can either be operative or inoperative, masks the location of a lock box behind a building wall.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The prior art includes several attempts to provide concealed safes or other lock boxes behind an outlet in a building wall. All of these devices, however, are incapable of being electrically operable, and merely serve as phony outlets to conceal useable safes or lock boxes.
GARVIN, U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,314, discloses a wall depository which is asserted to be an advancement over prior depositories which employ an electrical outlet cover for disguise, and which use a complete electrical outlet which is functional except for the omission of structure capable of providing a final electrical connection. The depository incorporates a receptacle box which is mounted behind a building wall. The depository container or lock box is slidably received in the receptacle box, which in turn frictionally grabs the side walls of the container. To insert a receptacle box within a wall, a hole is cut into the wall, and the box inserted until its flanges abut the wall surface. Retaining ears are then pushed from the inside of the receptacle into horizontal slots along the sides of the box. The device includes concealing means in the form of a simulated electrical receptacle outlet which is attached to a vertical side wall in the depository container by a screw and nut combination.
GULYA, U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,493, discloses a dummy electrical outlet which hides a safe or vault. A safe is mounted in a building wall and fits within a recess between adjacent walls. The safe includes a repository section and a cover plate which appears to be an ordinary electrical outlet assembly. The safe unit is inserted through a sleeve and secured by a panel which is larger than both the sleeve and the hole or recess in the wall. Rotation of a plug moves a latch so that the entire safe assembly can be removed from the wall. The entire repository unit can be rotated upon release by an appropriate latch mechanism.
SHUMAN, U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,910, discloses a catapult cartridge safe which includes an outward biasing spring. The apparatus comprises a safe which is mounted within a building and which slidably encloses a receptacle to be projected exteriorly of a building wall. The building wall has an opening which is closed by a door; the door has a plurality of releasable latches so that it can be manually inserted within an opening at any desired time. The safe comprises an outer receptacle and an inner receptacle; an alarm is also provided and is energized when a fire or unauthorized movement of an inner container is detected. Upon the occurrence of such a condition, a fusible cord is severed and a spring serves to catapult the inner receptacle outwardly from the outer receptacle and through an opening in the building wall.
CASTELLANO, U.S. Pat. No. 3,609,647, discloses a conventional electrical power box having flanges and top and bottom walls. The bottom wall of the outlet receives power lines and a ground line. The device also includes a cover plate which is adapted to receive a receptacle plug, which includes a pair of male members; the male members are adapted to be inserted into a complementary pair of female apertures.
GREENFIELD, U.S. Pat. No. 916,436, discloses a junction box comprising a pair of side walls. A bottom portion of the box can be separated from the side walls by pressing arms of a spring inwardly until the ears release the side walls. Plugs located in a rectangular box portion are then removed, and the box can be installed in the wall opening by loosening screws until they release clamping members and until the screws are withdrawn through respective openings in the side wall of the box.
None of the prior art devices discloses the specific structure of the receptacle of the present invention, which includes but is not limited to its particular male-female connectors, a mechanical locking element, an outwardly biasing spring, and a specific structural relationship between the locking pin and a screw on the outlet plate. Furthermore, none of these patents discloses the concept of providing a combination lock box/safe which is capable of also acting as a conventional electrical receptacle.